A City Council proposal would establish a mental health crisis intervention program in Denver, aiming to improve emergency services for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The START program would use direct service delivery and community crisis intervention to try to reduce the use of emergency services and state facilities among people with these disabilities experiencing mental health problems, city officials said.

Two contracts for the proposal were unanimously approved by the council safety committee on Wednesday. The contracts, totaling $6.1 million, will face two final votes by the full council in the coming weeks.

“START is a comprehensive model meant to be both proactive and preventative in terms of providing mental health services and support for folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Crystal Porter with Denver Human Services.

The START program – which stands for Systemic, Therapeutic, Assessment, Resources and Treatment – was conceived in 1988 by Dr. Joan Beasley.

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Beasley said the model helps a person’s support system understand the mental health aspects of intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is achieved by bringing coaches to teach best practices to the person, their family, their community, their aides, etc.

The START program also includes the implementation of a clinical crisis response team, which would provide 24/7 support for START participants in the case of mental health crises.

This would add to Denver’s existing STAR (Support Team Assisted Response) program which sends pairs of mental health clinicians and paramedics to low-level, nonviolent emergency calls in some parts of the city. 

Any Denver resident who has or is suspected to have an intellectual or developmental disability would be eligible for care under the START program, Beasley said.

“The target is people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with mental health needs,” Beasley said. “They are a very underserved population, and our experience is that 40% are from very diverse backgrounds, people who live in poverty, people of color.”

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Among START participants in other cities, psychiatric hospitalizations decreased from approximately 35% to 15% after enrollment in the program and emergency room visits decreased from nearly 50% to just under 35%, according to START data.

In addition, 73% of contacts to the crisis response team have been resolved at the scene without the need for back up and 92% of START participants are able to live in their communities.

The two proposed contracts would provide $599,072 to the University System of New Hampshire to train Denver’s START team and $5,663,846 to Rocky Mountain Human Services to run Denver’s START program through the end of August 2024.

If approved by the full council, hiring and training for the START program would begin this fall.